Contactless Vital Signs Monitoring for Public Health Welfare

Abstract

Vital signs such as Heart Rate (HR) and Respiratory Rate (RR) monitoring is crucial for public health. Vital signs measurement is the basic step for any health check. Thus, we need automated, contactless, remote, and easy-to-use tool for HR and RR measurement. Remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) is the tool that measures HR and RR from the blood pulse signal effect on skin color changes. We proposed a measurement system that takes facial video for 28 seconds, with standard camera resolution and frame rate. Then HR and RR were obtained using fast signal processing algorithm. The system was tested on 75 volunteering subjects, using patient monitor as the gold standard for both HR and RR readings. The system resulted in measuring HR with Mean Absolute Error (MAE) less than 10 beats per minute (bpm) and RR with MAE less than 4 respirations per minute (rpm). Therefore, the system is applicable as it used short time videos, standard camera specs, quick processing algorithms, and no special processing acceleration devices.